Review: Jane Austen on Film and Television by Sue Parrill

Jane Austen's incomparable Regency novels are ideal screen adaptation material, not only to enhance the reading experience of "Janeites," as her devotees are called, but as a tool to introduce this gifted author to anyone who might need some visual prompting before "plunging" into the original books.

When I first read Sue Parrill's Jane Austen on Film and Television, the ultimate guide to this genre, I found her style so breezy and youthful that I firmly believed it had been written by a Ph.D. student in her twenties rather than by a 67-year-old scholar. Almost twenty years on (Parrill is now in her mid-80s!), this marvellous book is still in print. Aside from Austen's original novels, there are secondary literature "must-reads," including Claire Tomalin's biography Jane Austen: A Life (1997), and Margaret Kirkham's somewhat highbrow Jane Austen, Feminism & Fiction (1983), which explores the proto-feminist connection between Austen and the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft as well as analysing feminist aspects of Austen's writing, but Parrill's definitive book, covering adaptations up until, and including, Patricia Rozema's daring feminist interpretation of Mansfield Park (1999), is a delight to any age group. Since then, there have been many further adaptations, however, discussion has long since shifted to social media, and Parrill's guide is at the root of this debating culture.

Equipped with a large pool of film material and TV scripts (Jane Austen is in the public domain, allowing film directors to save the money they would otherwise "shell out" on copyright fees), Parrill explored what was available to her at the time, on videocassette, DVD or by accessing archive tapes. The concept of Parrill's guide is as simple as it is ingenious. After an introductory chapter ("Why Jane Austen?") explaining why she chose this particular author, each subsequent chapter (Sense and Sensibility (S&S); Pride and Prejudice (P&P); Mansfield Park; Emma; Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey); devotes itself to the respective novels, beginning in each case with a short summary of the content, and then comparing and contrasting the feature film and TV adaptations. The appendix features a filmography, a bibliography, and an index.

Parrill not only analyses 1940s Hollywood movies such as the 1940 version of Pride & Prejudice, which reduces the novel to its core love story, acted "hammily" by Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, but also 1950s and 60s scripts of TV serials which no longer exist, either because they were broadcast live, or because the then very expensive tapes were wiped for re-use. Even though I like to "fast forward" to the Seventies, when the "Golden Age" of British TV began, in which the serial format proved ideal for the adaptation of novels,

Parrill went to the trouble of unearthing scripts of the unavailable material, and discovered that these were often improved upon and recycled by BBC and independent television script writers for use in later screen versions of Austen's books.

Much of the content of Parrill's guide revolves around the more popular/legendary/epic versions. This includes a comparison between P&P 1980, brilliantly scripted by Second Wave feminist Fay Weldon, who retained the suppressed, but nevertheless rebellious, true-to-period conduct of Elizabeth Bennet (Elizabeth Garvie), and the lavish 1995 remake, in which Jennifer Ehle played this role. Viewers benefit from both of these (very long) adaptations: the 1980 version may have poorer production values than the lush 1995 remake, but it has a good script, and Garvie's acting is far less anachronistic than Ehle's

Likable but too modern portrayal. Similarly, Persuasion is available in two contrasting versions: as with other adaptations, the 1971 serial is reasonably faithful to the book, but "staged," with few outdoor shots, whereas the very watchable and exciting 1995 feature film version is a tad too short.

Whereas at the time of writing of Parrill's guide, gothic novel Northanger Abbey was only represented by a somewhat mediocre 1986 series, an early but lengthy BBC Emma (1972) was contrasted with two 1996 updates; a cheery Hollywood version with delightful music (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow), and a (to my mind) inferior TV movie (with Kate Beckinsale as Emma). Parrill did not venture into territory she may have been unfamiliar with, such as Bollywood adaptations, but she does, in her Emma chapter, pick an example of a contemporary interpretation of one of Austen's stories: Clueless (1995) is set among Californian teenagers.

As for S&S, DVD enthusiasts now have access not only to the 1995 (Emma Thompson) Hollywood version but also to the earlier (1971 and 1981) BBC serials. Whereas the 1971 series is worth watching if only to see comedian Patricia Routledge as Mrs. Jennings, the 1981 fairly comprehensively covers the original novel, something which, despite its popularity, the 1995 S&S was unable to do because of time constraints. On the other hand, the 1995 version included the minor character of young Margaret Dashwood, generously allowing her precious screen time as a cheerful go-between and budding feminist.

Last of all, the 1983 TV serial of Mansfield Park contrasts with a far less conventional feature film version: Canadian director Patricia Rozema's 1999 version of the latter book, although "savaged" by Janeite purists, is, in hindsight, a masterpiece which paved the way towards the inclusion in adaptations not only of beautiful manor houses and landscapes, elegant gowns and piano recitals which have always pleased viewers, but also socially critical elements which Austen would only have hinted at: feminist rebellion and an emphasis on Fanny Price's intellectual prowess to compensate for Fanny's limited "stage presence" as a character (Fanny is more difficult to sympathise with than Elizabeth Bennet, in the novel but particularly on the screen), with Fanny reading aloud excerpts of her letters, and including techniques like voiceover to criticise the slave trade on which the family fortunes was based.

Although Rozema's film was initially a flop, Parrill admits that a new style of Austen adaptation was in the making (no doubt since the 1995 S&S), and she cites Devoney Looser in her introduction as saying that "the recent Austen adaptations have been popular because they represent a 'mainstreaming' of modern feminism." It is a pity in this context that Parrill, in the only criticism I have of her guide, should write so disparagingly about the 1983 actor playing Fanny Price: "Reading about this physically unattractive heroine in the novel is not painful for the reader, who forget about her attractiveness and focuses on her thoughts and actions. But to have to watch a really plain actress portray a character whose primary virtues express themselves in resistance rather than in action verges on torture. [...] She is small, she is plain, and she has no physical grace. She even affects some small nervous mannerisms. [...] Le Touzel acquires some curls towards the end, but these are not enough to compensate for a crooked nose and a square chin. Let's face it. Television and film are visual media. The choice of Sylvestra Le Touzel as for the role of Fanny was fatal to the success of this adaptation."

This sort of comment may have been very common (particularly from the pen of male reviewers!) at the beginning of the millennium, but I think we have now reached the stage where anyone with progressive feminist views would refrain from making such remarks. Apart from that, I believe Sue Parrill's guide belongs on every bookshelf.

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